Upcoming Events

Monthly Chapter Meetings: alternating between Kansas City and Wichita. Click "Events" in the menu to find a meeting!

2017 AWHONN National Convention in New Orleans: June 24-27

Spring 2018: Kansas State Convention! Details TBA. Check back often as more information becomes available.

Legislation Hot Topic

· Maternal Mortality in the News. National Public Radio recently ran a story entitled, “Focus on Infants during Childbirth Leaves U.S. Moms in Danger." The seven-minute radio clip is available here, and a longer report based on a six-month investigation in collaboration with ProPublica is here. The article suggests that the focus on infant health in the US can sometimes be at the expense of the mother and reports that maternal mortality is higher in the US than many other developed countries. Nearly 60% of those deaths are preventable, according to an analysis by the CDC Foundation. The AWHONN Postpartum Hemorrhage project is referenced. Executive Director of the Central Jersey Family Health Consortium Robyn D’Oria, a member of the state’s maternal mortality committee and an AWHONN member, is quoted twice.

· Healthcare Bill’s Impact on Women. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation has released a report, Ten Ways That the House American Health Care Act Could Affect Women (HR 1662)
o Access to Contraception for Servicemembers and Dependents Act of 2017 (S 957 / HR 2180)

Member Spotlight

Meet Susan Thrasher, APRN, RNC-OB, C-EFM! Susan presented a research poster to AWHONN for consideration and was chosen to be displayed at the national convention in 2016. Her topic was Traumatic Brain Injury during Pregnancy: Caring through Collaboration. Here's what she has to say about her work. "This poster was the result of a collaboration between myself and the Perinatal Social Worker, Coco McAtee, at our facility. At 11 weeks gestation, our patient was an unrestrained passenger in a car that was involved in a motor vehicle accident. She was ejected from the vehicle and sustained a traumatic brain injury that left her with a 10 centimeter piece of bone missing from her skull and unable to move, speak, or make decisions for herself. At approximately 35 weeks gestation she was hospitalized in anticipation of labor and to have her skull repaired. This patient required the interprofessional teamwork of 23 different departments, both inside and outside our hospital. This poster was presented at the 2016 National AWHONN conference in Grapevine, TX."Go check out her poster!